Captain's Blog

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Bloggy Bits

Fasten Your Seatbelts... For the Whole Flight?!?

It is just me? I've noticed an annoying trend while flying, that the captain no longer seems to turn off the fasten seatbelt sign when they hit 10,000 feet like they say they'll do, and used to do. Instead they seem to "accidentally" leave it on, and on, and on... despite no turbulence... and on, and on... maybe turning it off after a looooong time -- then, oops! little bump -- back goes the sign on again, and on, and on... more hours of no turbulence... still on... and on...

I get it that it's easier for the flight attendants if they don't have to contend with those pesky passengers going to the restroom, but, really... only 20 minutes of the sign turned off during a smooth four hour flight is just ridiculous. THis seems to be the norm now from what I've experienced.

Like crying wolf for hours on end, this seems like a safety problem to me, in that people eventually just ignore the sign and get up to use the restroom. Pilots are training passengers to ignore the seat belt sign. I know I've been trained.

Of course, that means if there is suddenly some turbulence, blam, I risk hitting the bulkhead. Not a good policy to abuse the fasten seat belt sign by leaving it on when it's not bumpy. I definitely keep my belt buckled while I'm in the seat anyway, so this is purely about when we're not "allowed" to get up.

This seems to be rampant on U.S. airlines -- and not a problem on the foreign airlines I've recently flown on. (It was so refreshing of Air France to turn off the seat belt light at 10,000 feet!)